John Slater, right, the Republican Town Committee chairman of Bridgeport, poses with an unidentified male friend at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., the site of WrestleMania XXVIII April 1, in a photo posted on Slater's Facebook page. The event came a month before Slater endorsed Greenwich's Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate, prompting McMahon opponent Christopher Shays to call into question the dynamics of that endorsement. less

John Slater, right, the Republican Town Committee chairman of Bridgeport, poses with an unidentified male friend at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., the site of WrestleMania XXVIII April 1, in a photo ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

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One of two photos on Bridgeport Republican Town Committee Chairman John Slater's Facebook page apparently taken with a camera phone showing wrestling match sequences from the vantage of field-level seats at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., the site of WrestleMania XXVIII April 1. The event came a month before Slater endorsed Greenwich's Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate, prompting McMahon opponent Christopher Shays to call into question the dynamics of that endorsement. less

One of two photos on Bridgeport Republican Town Committee Chairman John Slater's Facebook page apparently taken with a camera phone showing wrestling match sequences from the vantage of field-level seats at Sun ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

Image 3 of 5

One of two photos on Bridgeport Republican Town Committee Chairman John Slater's Facebook page apparently taken with a camera phone showing wrestling match sequences from the vantage of field-level seats at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., the site of WrestleMania XXVIII April 1. The event came a month before Slater endorsed Greenwich's Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate, prompting McMahon opponent Christopher Shays to call into question the dynamics of that endorsement. less

One of two photos on Bridgeport Republican Town Committee Chairman John Slater's Facebook page apparently taken with a camera phone showing wrestling match sequences from the vantage of field-level seats at Sun ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

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John Slater, the Republican Town Committee chairman of Bridgeport, furnished Greenwich Time with a photo of his Webster Bank statement and his ticket stub from the event showing that he paid $355 for a central riser seat at WrestleMania April 1. The event came a month before Slater endorsed Greenwich's Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate, prompting McMahon opponent Christopher Shays to call into question the dynamics of that endorsement. less

John Slater, the Republican Town Committee chairman of Bridgeport, furnished Greenwich Time with a photo of his Webster Bank statement and his ticket stub from the event showing that he paid $355 for a central ... more

Now the campaign of McMahon rival Christopher Shays is publicly calling into question the dynamics of that endorsement, which a spokeswoman for the former congressman and Bridgeport resident characterized as curious.

"I find it interesting that John Slater went to WrestleMania in Miami, and soon after he returned came out and endorsed Linda McMahon," said Amanda Bergen of the Shays campaign.

Slater vehemently denied accepting any kind of freebie from McMahon, saying he attended the April 1 wrestling extravaganza on his own dime. He furnished Greenwich Time with a photo of his Webster Bank statement and his ticket stub from the event showing that he paid $355 for a central riser seat at WrestleMania. The McMahon campaign announced Slater's endorsement May 8.

"If they're insinuating a bribe, which I can prove never happened, that's totally wrong," Slater told Greenwich Time. "If that's the road that his campaign is now taking, it shows another reason why not to vote for him, because it's a lie."

A campaign spokeswoman for McMahon, whose family runs WWE (formerly World Wrestling Entertainment), condemned the Shays campaign for suggesting that Slater was comped at WrestleMania in return for his endorsement.

"Congressman Shays continues to disrespect delegates and leaders across the state with accusations that they can be bought," Erin Isaac wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper on behalf of McMahon.

Slater is one of 95 RTC chairmen to endorse McMahon, who also has the backing of 30 town committees out of the 169 municipalities in Connecticut going into Friday's state Republican convention in Hartford.

Isaac attributed their support to what she characterized as McMahon's proven track record of job creation and plan to put people back to work and cut taxes for the middle class.

"They are NOT supporting Congressman Shays because he is a professional politician who will say or do anything to get elected," Isaac wrote. "The Shays campaign must be increasingly desperate if they are spending the days leading up to convention combing delegate Facebook pages for more baseless accusations to sling at our campaign."

The Shays campaign provided Greenwich Time with photos it obtained from Slater's Facebook profile showing him with an unidentified male friend at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., with the WrestleMania stage, mammoth fake palm trees and a steel cage in the background.

Slater was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Boots 2 Asses," the rallying cry of "The Rock," Dwayne Johnson, who defeated John Cena in his return to the ring at WrestleMania.

A pair of photos, also lifted by the Shays campaign off Facebook and apparently taken with a camera phone, show wrestling match sequences from the vantage of field-level seats in the massive football stadium.

"I have a group of friends who I have gone to this (with) for years," Slater said. "Every single one was on my own dime. Linda didn't even know I was there."

WrestleMania is the equivalent of the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. This year's installment drew 78,363 fans to the home stadium of the NFL's Miami Dolphins, where ticket prices ranged from $25 to a staggering $9,000 that was being asked by one seller of a ringside seat on the website StubHub.com.

Slater said he paid $350 for his ticket to WrestleMania, which McMahon's campaign confirmed at the time that the former WWE chief executive officer would be attending.

"I didn't endorse her because of wrestling," said Slater, who became Bridgeport RTC chairman about a 1 1/2 months ago.

Between ticket and merchandise sales, pay-per-view orders and travel packages, the 2011 installment of WrestleMania, held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, generated $36 million in gross revenues, according to WWE.

"Linda has lived the American dream through hard work and sweat equity," Slater said. "I am supporting Linda McMahon because she is the better candidate."